DURHAM, N.C. – Duke redshirt senior offensive guard Dave Harding will be honored as a member of the AFCA Good Works Team during halftime of the Sugar Bowl Thursday evening in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Harding was selected as one of 22 members on the 2013 American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team, Allstate Insurance Company announced in September. The award recognizes college football players – 11 from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and 11 from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) or Divisions II, III or NAIA – who have positively impacted their communities and the lives of others through service.

Harding, an offensive guard who has played in 50 career games with 41 starts at Duke, organized a mission trip for his fellow Duke offensive linemen to Ethiopia in the summer of 2012 where the group dug freshwater wells in a remote village whose nearest water supply was nearly a mile away. The two-week excursion also included other projects in the village and time at a local orphanage.

“I’m honored to be named to the Good Works Team,” said Harding, who joins Sean Renfree (2012), Bryan Morgan (2010), Re’quan Boyette (2008) and Zaid Abdul-Aleem (1994) as Duke players to receive Good Works recognition. “It’s one of the most prestigious off-the-field awards in college football, and it’s a huge honor to be given that award alongside some of the other great college football players this year and in the past. To be in such great company means a lot to me.”

Harding is active in a number of other community service projects in the Durham community, including the Ronald McDonald House, Duke Children’s Hospital, Camp Kaleidoscope and INJAZ. With the Ronald McDonald House, Duke Children’s Hospital and Camp Kaleidoscope, Harding spends time with children who are patients at Duke Hospital. With INJAZ, a Duke student organization that helps Iraqi refugees establish themselves in the Raleigh-Durham area, Harding, who speaks Arabic, assists the refugees in learning the English language.

“I want to congratulate Dave Harding on a well-earned AFCA Good Works team announcement,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “I don’t know anyone period, anywhere, in any era of college football who deserves that type of award more than Dave Harding.”

A native of Orlando, Fla., Harding has been one of Duke’s top offensive linemen since his freshman season. An All-ACC honorable mention selection in 2012, he played over 3.000 career snaps with starting experience at both guard and center. He started all 14 games of 2013, helping Duke to a school-record 10 wins, the ACC Coastal Division Championship and a berth to the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

Harding’s academic resume includes All-District III honors in 2012 and Academic All-ACC citations in 2010, 2011 and 2012. He graduated from Duke with a degree in public policy studies and a minor in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies in May, 2013, and is currently pursuing his graduate degree in political science. He was also a semifinalist for the Wooden Citizenship Cup in 2012 and is a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award this year.

For more than two decades, the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team has recognized college football players at all levels of the sport for inspiring acts of service and off-the-field achievements. This summer, the program received a record 150 nominations from colleges and universities across the country. From the nominations, an esteemed voting panel comprised of former Allstate AFCA Good Works Team members and college football media selected 11 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA to comprise the 22-player team.

About the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®

The Allstate AFCA Good Works Teams® were established in 1992 by the College Football Association, recognizing the extra efforts made by college football players and student support staff off the field. AFCA became the governing body of the award in 1997 and continues to honor college football players who go the extra mile for those in need. Allstate partnered to present the award starting with the 2008 season.

The SEC leads all conferences with 58 selections to the Good Works Team since it began in 1992. The SEC is followed by the Big 12 Conference with 41 selections and the Atlantic Coast Conference with 34 selections. With C.J. Zimmerer’s selection in 2013, Nebraska moves into a tie with Georgia for first place with 14 honorees to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. The Cornhuskers and Bulldogs are followed by St. Thomas (Minn.) with 13 honorees. Super Bowl XLII, XLVI and XLI champion quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning were members of the 2002 and 1997 Good Works Teams®, respectively.

About AFCA

The AFCA was founded in 1922 and currently has more than 11,000 members around the world ranging from the high school level to the professional ranks. According to its constitution, the AFCA was formed, in part, to “maintain the highest possible standards in football and in the coaching profession” and to “provide a forum for the discussion and study of all matters pertaining to football.”